A Blurred Reflection
by Batsy Rocks
Summary: "He is only a human and you are Superman! You're supposed to be there to protect him! To save him!" - Clark and Bruce travel to an alternate universe. Bruce is missing and Clark meets Superman.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Justice League or any of its characters. Really, I don't.

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Clark descended slowly, keeping his feet from touching the ground as he hovered over the man standing on top of the bridge. It was terrifying. Seeing another man wearing his suit, crest and face. It took a second for the words to leave his mouth, but when they did his tone was hard and commanding. Bruce would have been proud.

"Where's he?"

Superman lifted his head in a slow deliberate move, deep blue eyes meeting Clark's. "Safe."

"_Safe?_ You_ kidnapped_ him! You-"

"I _removed_ him from a dangerous situation. He was _hurt_ and about to be _shot_ while you were busy playing the hero."

Clark clenched his fists, struggling not to show the smallest sign of guilt. Bruce and he had still been trying to figure out where they had been transported to when they had been attacked by... odd-shaped being. They had split; Bruce fighting on the ground while he had attacked from the sky. He had been keeping an eye on Bruce like always, then two of the beings had attacked him, followed by three more and by the time he had neutralized them and looked down Bruce hadn't been there anymore.

"Where's he?"

Superman glared, eyes dark with fury and a glimpse of crimson flashing in them. "I'm not going to let _you_ take _him_. I'm not going to let your carelessness get him _killed!_"

Clark flinched. "I didn't-"

"He is only a _human_ and you are _Superman_! You're supposed to be there to protect him! To save him!"

Superman's feet left the ground as he floated to look at Clark straight in the eye, teeth bared in a snarl as he moved forward, his face mere inches from Clark's. "I'm not going to let you kill him."

"Like your Batman." Clark whispered after a moment of silence, eyes wide as the shocking realization slowly creep into his mind.

"_Yes._" Superman hissed, moving slightly away from Clark. His deep voice sending shivers down Clark's spine. He hadn't been expecting such a plain, upright answer; so much raw emotion buried in his voice.

"Bruce... He was... He was magnificent. Deathly._ Perfect_." The hardness around Superman's eyes and mouth softened just barely as he lost himself in the memories, staring blankly ahead. "He had... _this way_ of acting, of handling himself that made you believe he was another super-powered God among the rest. Powerful. Invincible. At least until the rush of the battle was over and you saw the wounds and broken bones. The blood. And he just... brushed them off like they didn't matter. As if his body hadn't just been torn apart."

Superman paused, fixing his cold, hard gaze on Clark's face again. "And by the time the next battle came, you had forgotten again. Until you saw his lifeless body sprawled in the middle of a wrecked street in a pool of his own blood. And you were remembered he was only human. Vulnerable. Fragile. _Breakable_."

"You need to tell me where he is." Clark demanded after a moment of thick silence, his voice slightly hoarse. He forced himself not to dwell on Superman's words too much. Not now. No matter how much he wanted to drop to his knees and bow his head in shame. He needed to get Bruce back. _Then_, and _only_ then he could drown in guilt and shame.

Superman met his eyes for a moment before shaking his head, something akin to pity flashing in his eyes. "You don't understand. You _can't_. But _I_ do, and I'm going to do _anything_ to keep him safe."

"How are you going to keep him safe?"

"I'm going to do what you can't; I'm going to force him to see he can't keep foolishly risking his life fighting a loss battle." Superman lifted his chin almost defiantly, hard eyes looking into Clark's. "I will keep him in a safe place where nothing can hurt him _ever again_."

"_Force_ him? _Keep_ him? You're not talking about keeping him safe; you're talking about taking away his will and control him. Keeping him locked somewhere as nothing more than a possession or a prize." It was Clark who was glowing and glaring now, hands curled into fists at his sides. "So you're right, I can't do that. For the same reason you didn't stop _your_ Bruce. Because that's how he is. Because fight bad guys and save lives is more than just a choice for him. Because taking that away from him would destroy him."

"Can't you see this would end up destroying him anyway!"

"I know." Clark admitted softly. It was something he had been afraid of almost from the moment he had met Bruce. "But I also know I would never forget myself if I took that choice from him. And neither would _he_."

Clark caught a flash of fragile sanity in his double's eyes, just for a second, before the angry, hard gaze came back full force, burring any glimpse of it.

"I don't know why I'm wasting my time with you. I don't care what you say; I'm not going to let you take him."

"I'm not asking for your permission." Clark growled before charging at the other man, fist connecting against invulnerable flesh.

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**a/n: **And that's it. What do you think? The original idea for this fic was Bruce and Clark being transported to an alternate universe, where that world's Superman kidnapped and injury Bruce, but somewhere along the way it turned into this. I like how this came out so that's why I'm posting it instead of start again and go along with my original idea.

I'm considering writing a second chapter where Clark find and "rescue" Bruce, so let me know if you would be interested in reading it!

This is my very first time writing for this fandom (though not the characters. I've written for Young Justice), so any comment or criticism would be very much appreciated. I'm also not native speaker, so go ahead and point out any mistakes you find!


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